-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
107.9 Panama City on the air
- Thread starter cceng
- Start date
I doubt it. They always seem to change them to have a K or LV or something in them.
They did keep WPFF's calls when they bought it a few years ago
Oh, that's interesting! That's the first one I've heard, but that means there may be others. I'd be curious to know how many they've left intact.
I would imagine so, at least as far as full power stations go. Would we also count NPR affiliates as simulcasts, since they mostly all carry the same news programming in the mornings?
Haven't tuned in yet so I'll have to check it out although I am not a big fan of CCM. I sure hope they keep the PFM calls but since they are not from the area I am sure they care nothing about heritage call letters. Really hoping someone picks up the other stations and puts them back on the air.
edit: just saw the post where someone picked them up for $325,000.
edit: just saw the post where someone picked them up for $325,000.
Last edited:
Could you post the link concerning the sale of the WPFM call sign?
That amount would be right for the remaining stations in the cluster, not for a set of small market call letters in an era when calls are increasingly unimportant.
Never mind, MikeinFl. I see where I misunderstood your post about the $325,000 being for the call sign. Evidently, you meant the $325k was for the sale of the remaining stations. I thought that seemed a bit odd, lol.
Last edited:
K-Love on 107.9 could become one of the top 5 stations (commercial &/or non-com) in PCB. That would make EMF a good steward of the heritage WPFM calls.
If EMF gives up the WPFM calls... I do hope they stay in PCB. . . WPFM-FM would make good calls for Pop WILN Island 106 or Active Rock WRRX 97X.
WBPC 95.1 would score if they could snag the WPFM calls.
With all the station selling in PCB this and next year I'm sure we'll see many new formats appear.
The entire Powell portfolio in PCB sold for well under $1 million bucks. How recently have stand alone Class A stations had $1.5-2 million invested to get on the air in PCB? Maybe 5 years ago? Damn.
If EMF gives up the WPFM calls... I do hope they stay in PCB. . . WPFM-FM would make good calls for Pop WILN Island 106 or Active Rock WRRX 97X.
WBPC 95.1 would score if they could snag the WPFM calls.
With all the station selling in PCB this and next year I'm sure we'll see many new formats appear.
The entire Powell portfolio in PCB sold for well under $1 million bucks. How recently have stand alone Class A stations had $1.5-2 million invested to get on the air in PCB? Maybe 5 years ago? Damn.
If I understand the EMF sale correctly, Powell sold EMF the 107.9 license without the intellectual property and without equipment, so they basically would be getting the rights for the license for the facility from the FCC after all the paperwork was filed and approved. My guess is they would assume the tower lease and would have either moved their station to another building or rented space from Powell. The call letters would be part of what Powell would have kept. Then the hurricane hit and everything was out the window. Except the actual sale of WPFM. The new owner of the three remaining stations paid $325k and I cannot remember, but I would think I heard that when Powell decided not to remain after the hurricane, they turned off several stations that would have been fine if the power had remained on during and after Michael. They also, IIRC, took most of the equipment they could get out of town with. So, that would make me think the new owner has some serious rebuilding to go through and I think they also will have to move their studios away from Gwyn because that space was leased by a new tenant. I would think the new owner would have asked for the WPFM call letters in the deal, but I am not sure Powell would have gone for that. They don't need any call letters beginning with W's.
Call letters don't mean as much today as they did back in the good ole days, but I agree on the historical fun of those call letters, Poledo. Powell bought the four stations for about $236k each (I would have to look that up, as my memory is really not good on those details.) So, paying $108k a stick is a decent buy. Problem is how much more will be invested in the rebuild and even more importantly, on a monthly basis just to get a sales team, air talent (if there is any?) and electricity, marketing, insurance***, crazy tower rentals, equipment and on and on. The cost to buy in is "good" by most radio standards, but long term, this could still be a really iffy venture. CCENG would have to tell us what he sees and thinks on the market and comeback, because I have zero clue on that at this point. I wonder how Don McCoy's stations are fairing through all of this. We all know iHeart rocked it (plenty of cool interviews out there with Charlie) and they may actually do better, despite fewer residents and so many businesses gone, but a city like PC and all the other smaller towns are full of people who will be strong and their will be a great comeback.
G
Groove1670
Guest
The biggest issue is getting the transmission facilities back up. They can put a shared studio in a storefront. If they can put a decent product on the air (can be jockless), and a sales team they can ride it out till the economy bounces back.
For KLove, all you need is a PC at the transmitter to fire up the legal ID.
Dont even need that. They use individually addressable satellite receivers ....the legal id is stored in there.
G
Groove1670
Guest
Talking about the other properties that were sold.
Wondering if salesmen from Ft. Walton, Dothan or Tallahassee could pick up second jobs in PCB.
It does appear that in the short term a significant amount of local businesses are deciding not to reopen. IHeart is probably the only cluster that could survive on national and chain store adds only.
It does appear that in the short term a significant amount of local businesses are deciding not to reopen. IHeart is probably the only cluster that could survive on national and chain store adds only.
This August will be 5 years since K-LOVE bought WCCC in Hartford, Connecticut and they kept those call letters. The station had a rock format of some sort for over 30 years when they were sold. In their last year and a half of existence they went from Rock to Classic Rock. With K-LOVE they can say the calls stand for We're Connecticut's Contemporary Christian.
Studios? EMF don't need no stinkin' studios... at least in Panama City.
As for the soon-to-be-former Powell group, they won't need much in the way of studios either, at least initially. An automation system at a transmitter site will do for what I understand Rogatinsky has planned. 105.1 is the only station of the three that can easily be put back on the air, with 103.5 following fairly quickly. 95.9 is pretty much a rebuild, since they lost their tower in Michael.
Look for them to do traffic and billing remotely from south Florida, even commercial production from their West Palm station. Any future on-air personalities will be brokered, meaning they will have to buy the time and then sell ads to cover their costs. I don't think that will work (it does great on brokered/ethnic stations, like the one this company has in West Palm, but I don't see it as viable here). Maybe in the short run, but not long-term.
As for the soon-to-be-former Powell group, they won't need much in the way of studios either, at least initially. An automation system at a transmitter site will do for what I understand Rogatinsky has planned. 105.1 is the only station of the three that can easily be put back on the air, with 103.5 following fairly quickly. 95.9 is pretty much a rebuild, since they lost their tower in Michael.
Look for them to do traffic and billing remotely from south Florida, even commercial production from their West Palm station. Any future on-air personalities will be brokered, meaning they will have to buy the time and then sell ads to cover their costs. I don't think that will work (it does great on brokered/ethnic stations, like the one this company has in West Palm, but I don't see it as viable here). Maybe in the short run, but not long-term.
- Status